Review | VCA Graduate Show
Tonight is the opening of the 2011 Master of Arts graduate show at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne - to celebrate I’ve posted last year’s show review. This year’s review is on the way too, it might be interesting to compare.
The converted gallery spaces were packed with bodies on the opening night of the Victorian College of the Arts Graduate Show. It was a hot and muggy evening and I arrived late. The band played a loud version of some kind of rock and I couldn’t hear the singer, but it didn’t matter I thought they were alright. I started at the back of the VCA’s gallery/studios which had been cleared out for the exhibition. There seemed to be less people and a slight breeze. I knew what I was getting myself in for. I wanted to observe the artists as well as their artworks, so opening night was the right time to visit.
The printmaking room was the first I encountered and it was one I returned to after a large circuit of at least five other rooms and hallways. The highlight of the printmaking room were the artist books, and in particular Renuka Rajiv’s lithographs and artist books. There’s a childlike quality to Rajiv’s line, it is both naive and assured, and it doesn’t waver in sketching out the contours of torso-less legs, and shoes. An adult world collides with childlike colours and whimsical subjects. Fine rice papers with primary school pencils form the pages of delicately bound artist books. Text and texture abound in these contemplative works. The only drawback I noted was the wall display. It appeared haphazard, without the necessary space for each print to breath. Looking at the collection pinned to the wall it was clear an overall surface was intended, however it did not grab the eye in the same way as the books.
From the print making room at the back of the studios to the upstairs gallery I encountered a vast array of materials. There was muslin, caste toilets, melted glass, a taxidermy swan, multimedia and found objects, there were televisions, glutinous jelly crystals, drawings on paper, paintings on plastic, photography, video of cats and melting wax hands, as well as a cacophony of smells and sounds both intended and unintended. Of all these experimental diverse materials and processes it was the traditional medium of plain old sewing which became the most memorable. Upstairs I found Dawn Tan’s large soft sculptures of packaged foods and fell in love with their whimsy.
A mix for Yorkshire Pudding about one metre tall, a giant bag of Tetley Tea, Uncle Tobies Oat Tops as tall as you or I, Marshmallows, Ritz and Kraft’s grated parmesan. They look like bean bags but the attention to detail on the packaging makes them far more intriguing than something practical. It’s the impractical size, soft pastel tones and sense of handmade craftiness about them that stuck with me. Red and white checked Gingham, soft blue checkers, sheer plastic and soft stuffing along with painted embellishments and hand embroidered details are what the viewer sees first, but what you remember is something more. Dawn Tan loves food.
This love is not only evident it is also catching. Her work prompted me to look at these simple throwaway packets a little closer. Seeing something as transient as a packet of marshmallows turn into something you wouldn’t mind having around a bit longer is a strange experience. Tan reconnects us with the domesticity and tradition of cooking, but she does so within the context of our highly transient culture. Our packaged food is acquired and disposed of without a thought to its origin, history or destination. I love the connection between craft and consumerism which Tan subtle explores. Her work is subtle, understated and very covetable and not just because she shares our love of whimsy.
–
Images: courtesy of the artist’s website. From above: the Homebodies series and Marshmallow Lollie 2 series of photographs.
